Coach Dallas Eakins spoke about the annual extended November road trip in a recent interview after practice setting up a three games in three nights stretch to close off a mixed month of results.

November is typically when the Marlies embark on what in essence becomes a month long road trip, living out of a suitcase as Ricoh Coliseum transforms to accomodate horses and pigs during the Royal Winter Fair. Marlies coach spoke about the consequences of being on the road for such long stretches.

“We haven’t had a lot of good quality practice time, especially being on the road we’ve been more about our rest and recovery. (Wednesday) we probably had one of the longest practices that we’ve had all year. It was good. Our guys responded well.” Dallas Eakins Nov 28, 2012.

As he glossed over getting into dirty areas and hoping for bounces, the emphasis he put on the forechecking game that hems opponents in their own zone starts in the perimeter and takes him away from those dirty areas. It gives hm more of the 'David Steckel' comparison Brian Burke used to described the low-end of his potential at the time of acquiring him in a trade for Tomas Kaberle to Boston.

There are plenty of players who can get in and forecheck and cause turnovers, but Colborne has a better skill set at the tip of his stick that he should be the one driving the scoring, not the forecheck.

He hasn’t shown the same drive to the goal with the puck as he did pre-injury, and that I think is a legitimate concern as to why he’s not scoring and why he will likely continue to do so.

He’s not the only one struggling however.

Below are the Marlies that placed in the top-100 scorers by weekly date. The row that contains the date is the average of the players within that date grouping.

What is important here is the second column, RANK. That’s is the AHL rank in overall scoring the player held on the particular date. Keith Aucoin rose through the ranks from 80th at the end October to only a short jump into the top-20, sitting at 21 on November 26.

Date/Player

Rank

Pt/G

GP

G

A

Pts

Shots

Sh%

10/22/2012

55.7

1.10

4

2

2

4

15

39.7

Jake Gardiner

54

0.80

5

2

2

4

21

9.5

Kenny Ryan

79

1.50

2

2

1

3

2

100.0

Mike Kostka

34

1.00

5

2

3

5

21

9.5

10/29/2012

86.3

0.89

6

2

4

5

18

7.2

Jake Gardiner

84

0.83

6

3

2

5

22

13.6

Keith Aucoin

80

1.00

6

0

6

6

7

0.0

Mike Kostka

95

0.83

6

2

3

5

25

8.0

11/12/2012

69

0.87

11

2

8

10

21

7.5

Keith Aucoin

43

1.00

11

1

10

11

12

8.3

Mike Kostka

95

0.73

11

2

6

8

30

6.7

11/19/2012

39

0.89

15

3

10

13

30

11.0

Jake Gardiner

51

0.80

15

5

7

12

47

10.6

Keith Aucoin

22

0.93

15

3

11

14

15

20.0

Mike Kostka

23

0.93

15

3

11

14

33

9.1

Mike Zigomanis

75

0.79

14

2

9

11

22

9.1

Nazem Kadri

24

1.00

14

2

12

14

32

6.3

11/26/2012

53.4

0.80

17

4

10

14

38

11.7

Jake Gardiner

78

0.67

18

5

7

12

59

8.5

Keith Aucoin

21

0.94

18

3

14

17

21

14.3

Leo Komarov

95

0.64

14

6

3

9

25

24.0

Mike Kostka

42

0.83

18

3

12

15

43

7.0

Nazem Kadri

31

0.94

17

2

14

16

44

4.5

Among defensemen, Mike Kostka and Jake Gardiner are the only blueliners to make an appearance in the top-20.

Date/Player

Rank

Pt/G

GP

G

A

PTS

Shots

Sh%

10/22/2012

24.3

0.73

5

2

2

4

15

17.4

Jake Gardiner

14

0.80

5

2

2

4

21

9.5

Mike Kostka

10

1.00

5

2

3

5

21

9.5

10/29/2012

54.8

0.65

5

1

2

3

12

14.3

Jake Gardiner

18

0.83

6

3

2

5

22

13.6

11/12/2012

54.75

0.53

10

2

3

5

20

11.0

Mike Kostka

16

0.73

11

2

6

8

30

6.7

11/19/2012

5.5

0.87

15

4

9

13

40

9.9

Jake Gardiner

7

0.80

15

5

7

12

47

10.6

Mike Kostka

4

0.93

15

3

11

14

33

9.1

11/26/2012

51.6

0.54

15

2

6

8

32

8.0

Jake Gardiner

12

0.67

18

5

7

12

59

8.5

Mike Kostka

5

0.83

18

3

12

15

43

7.0

A post that focused on the Marlies current season penalty-killing woes by Kyle Cicarella emphasized 2011-12 penalty-killing efficiency as the strong suit. In fact, the Marlies led the AHL in penalty-killing in the past two seasons and were their saving graces during the period on the road in November.

In 2012-13, killing penalties have been a struggle. Even though their proficiency crept into the 80’s, they’re mired ranked 23rd overall.

DATE

Rank

GP

TSH

PPGA

PCT

SHGF

10/22/2012

17

5

23

5

78.3

0

10/29/2012

18

6

29

6

79.3

0

11/5/2012

23

8

38

8

78.9

1

11/12/2012

19

11

46

9

80.4

1

11/19/2012

23

15

71

14

80.3

1

11/26/2012

23

18

82

16

80.5

1

Mike Kostka is the only Marlies defender to appear in the top-5 amongst blueliners scoring (2-6-8) with the man advantage.

With the amount of firepower up front, and two capable point men in Kostka and Jake Gardiner, the power play has been disappointing ranking in the bottom half of the league.

In the past two seasons, the Marlies fared well in November, a trend that has taken a dramatic turn this season, losing three times as many games in 2012-13 November than the previous two individual years.

The penalty killing has certainly contributed to that 6-6-0 record, allowing 10 goals in November, after allowing a combined 12 goals in the previous two Novembers combined.

2012-13 also marked off the least amount of November home dates (2), since they moved into Ricoh Coliseum after converting from St. John’s.

Colborne also indicated how being on the road creates bonds between teammates that can be used and exploited in game situations as well as other avenues like talking out slumps and encouraging maintaining good momentum.

This season’s November was a constant struggle throughout. At one point, Toronto had amassed a 6-3 record, only to head into the final game of the month sitting at a .500 record.

Next game tips the scales one way or the other.

Gus Katsaros is the Pro Scouting Coordinator for McKeen's Hockey. Follow him on twitter @KatsHockey or his blog Kats Krunch at mckeenshockey.com